City approves Freedom Motors move one block

July 9, 2013

ALPENA - The Alpena Planning Commission approved a special use permit Tuesday that will allow a used car business at Ripley Boulevard and Washington Avenue to move to a less congested site.

Shortly after the business opened in September 2012, the city began receiving complaints about Freedom Motors because cars driven by customers were blocking access to Duffy's Computers next door.

The city also became worried about inventory blocking the site lines of motorists making a right turn from Ripley onto Washington. Several complaints also were made about cars crowding the sidewalks.

Article Photos

News Photo by Betsy LehndorffFreedom Motors President Maren Kieliszewski stands in front of her dealership at 826 W. Washington Ave. The lot will be moved a block west once a new site is completed Oct. 1.

City officials originally allowed the company to keep 27 cars on the sale lot, but after the complaints, they reduced that number to 20 and were more specific about the site's use.

For a more permanent solution, Maren Kieliszewski, company president, filed a petition with the planning commission, asking if she could convert company-owned property at Washington and Charlotte into an outdoor car sales lot. It is about a block west of the present location.

Freedom Motors was using the rundown greenhouses and buildings to clean and repair used vehicles for sale at the highly visible Ripley site. Once a car was cleaned up, repaired and displayed with highlighted signs on the lot, it could sell in as little as a day, she said.

Tuesday's approval of the special permit eliminates two problems, planning commission officials said. One is elimination of the congestion at Ripley and Washington. The second is improvement to some unsightly buildings and greenhouses on the property that Kieliszewki's company bought as a foreclosure in 2009.

Kieliszewski said once a building permit is obtained, crews will tear down the plastic-sided greenhouses, renovate the buildings, pave a portion of the lot and make other required improvements by Oct. 1. Then the Ripley site will be vacated and the cars will be moved and sold on the renovated property next.

The commissioners unanimously approved the special permit, with 11 conditions attached. Among them:

City Manager Greg Sundin recommended the approval and said the company would have to request another special land use permit if they want to repair cars for sale at the new site. Such a permit wasn't requested at the time because the company was negotiating to buy a collision company or rent a collision repair site where the work could be done. However, those efforts have not yet panned out, Kieliszewski said.

Meanwhile, the company uses the services of Alpena Car Care, Andy's Transmission and Alpena Collision, she said.

Kieliszewski said she was pleased with the city's efforts.

"We just want to do this the right way, to beautify the area and make sure everything is in compliance," she said.

Kieliszewski said since opening, Freedom Motors has sold 300 cars to area residents with no or poor credit. The company offers secondary sub-prime financing, which means buyers pay higher interest rates to offset the risk. Those rates start at around 4.99 percent and can go as high as 20 percent, she said.